On a night when a response to a discouraging loss was critical, Dallas delivered.
Whatever caused the Stars’ sleepy performance Saturday afternoon looked to have been shaken off Monday night. The team put on a show that looked exactly like playoff hockey usually does: loud, tight and rowdy. Dallas logged a critical win against the Wild to tie the series 1-1 as the teams head to Minnesota for two more games that will likely be just as intense as the one tonight.
“Yeah, from our end, anyway, it was a playoff game,” head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I thought they played two. We played one. So, it’s more of what we look like, more of the way we are. But you can still see how tight it is. You got good games from both teams, and it’s tight.”
Both teams came out swinging, and Rantanen got called for it first. He took a high sticking penalty on Kirill Kaprizov early and put the attention on the Dallas penalty kill that struggled so much in game one on the spot. The Stars answered the call and put a decisive stop to Minnesota’s power play, with sharp saves made by Jake Oettinger as well.
Wyatt Johnston kicked off scoring for the night twelve minutes in, when he sent a puck that bounced off Jesper Wallstedt’s glove side and into the net. In a game where a response seemed critical, Johnston rose to the occasion and got the team up first and early.
Jamie Benn and Zach Bogosian got tangled up a few minutes later, going to the box for hooking and interference, respectively. As four-on-four play unrolled, Brock Faber found space and scored on Jake Oettinger to tie the game.
The energy did not die down. Colin Blackwell, who is 5’8”, laid a big but clean hit in the neutral zone on 6’2″ Yakov Trenin, who had to be helped off the ice.
Oettinger, who let in six goals in game one, looked fresh tonight and ended the period with an important save against a one-on-one with Matt Boldy, sending the Stars into the locker room with an even score of 1-1.
As the second period began, the intensity turned up a notch. Or two. Or three. In the next twenty minutes, a whopping nine penalties were called – four for the Stars and five for the Wild.
The first, an elbowing penalty by Nick Foligno against Nils Lundkvist, ended in a Dallas goal. Mikko Rantanen slid the puck to Matt Duchene who knocked it past Wallstedt and doubled the Stars’ lead. As Duchene went to celebrate, a scuffle broke out between him, Joel Eriksson Ek and Rantanen and ended with two roughing penalties and a slashing penalty for Rantanen.
Dallas killed off that penalty and several more as the game went on. And after the rough showing Monday night, it was a huge part of why the Stars won tonight.
“They wanted a bounce back game too. Their PK. They wanted to bounce back hard. And they did, and they showed up. The playoffs is all about adjustments and everything, and they adjusted well,” Jason Robertson said. “And obviously Jake played phenomenal, and our guys got it done. So in playoffs, it’s you got to find different ways to win. And obviously our PK was a big part of the a big part of that tonight.”
The third period saw a Dallas power play in the opening two minutes, but Minnesota was able to put a stop to it, and went on the defensive for a good chunk of time. Dallas took advantage of the Wild’s slower pace when Jason Robertson deflected a shot from Lundkvist and got it past Wallstedt, bringing the score to 3-1.
Minnesota responded quickly, however, when Brock Faber finally got a puck past Oettinger after he had made two huge saves in a row. With ten minutes remaining, the two teams stepped on the gas and play ramped up. Dallas took a penalty for too many men, killed it, and then Minnesota took one too. Quinn Hughes’ frustration was apparent when the call was made and continued to overflow when he failed to stop Johnston’s empty net goal on that power play.
The Stars’ key win evens the series, and both teams will be looking to take the next one on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. CT in Minnesota.